Rheine. This could be the name of the joint project that has now been implemented in the Rheine City Park. Together with the Stadtparkverein, the city of Rheine, the Technische Betriebe and Rheine.Tourismus.Veranstaltungen.e.V., it is now possible to experience the 29 works of art in the Stadtpark digitally in various ways. “This is less about the quick consumption of the artworks, but rather a modern and digital form of cultural experience,” explains Michaela Hövelmann from the press department of the city of Rheine, who coordinated the project.
Thus, steles with QR codes are now located near each Stadtpark sculpture. They offer a very efficient way of linking the objects in the space with digital content. If the visitor has an Internet-capable smartphone and has installed a free QR scanner, he or she can access the information provided on www.rheine.de/stadtparkskulpturen directly via the respective QR code.
Heiner and Theresia Studt, who are both active in the Stadtparkverein, came up with the idea during one of their trips to the Netherlands. “Time and again, we were able to use the QR codes to ask for important information about artworks. It was a good idea that we also wanted to have implemented in the Stadtpark in Rheine,” Heiner Studt explains the origin of the work. As a computer science teacher, it was he who put the idea directly into practice and photographed the 29 sculptures and recorded them in a database. His wife provided the content.
However, the question of implementation remained. In cooperation with the city of Rheine, the Technical Works and the RTV as well as Heiner and Theresia Studt, a project group was formed and together they looked for quick and not too cost-intensive solutions. Thanks to the initiative of Uwe Neuber, head of the green department of the Technische Betriebe, and the green space planner Franziska Moß, suitable stelae were quickly found. The QR code signs were mounted on old recycled posts that had been sustainably refurbished and were not only modern but also durable. In doing so, the two placed particular emphasis on ensuring that the codes were also attached in a barrier-free manner. All steles are therefore located at the edge of the path and at a height that they are also easily accessible with a wheelchair or walker and with a stroller. “If one of the signs should ever be broken or illegible, they can be replaced quite quickly,” says Moß.
Culture also accessible from home
But the project didn’t end with the QR codes. With the help of the geo-information services of the city of Rheine, headed by Norbert Kenning and Stefan Klümper, all the sculptures were filmed using a special camera and processed into a virtual tour. The citizen can thus also explore the city park from the comfort of his or her sofa at home. At www.rheine.de/virtuellerskulpturenrundgang, the online visitor receives the desired information by clicking on the sculpture. Arrows pointing to the left and right also enable them to “stroll” through the city park online without having to be on site. This is a project that has not yet been implemented in Rheine. “Of course, virtual tours can also be outsourced to third-party providers, but this is usually very expensive,” Stefan Klümper knows to report. “If we also want to record other cultural sites in public space in the future, it was our idea to realize this with our own on-board resources,” Norbert Kenning adds to the work.
The costs are borne by the cultural service of the city of Rheine under the direction of Klaus Dykstra. “Digital information on art in public spaces is now one of the standards of cultural mediation. If the foundations for this are laid by people committed to voluntary work, a city can only support this. And since the Corona pandemic last year simply slowed down many cultural offerings, it was easily possible to finance the costs of the project from these unspent funds.”
“The finished result is something to be proud of,” says Rheine’s mayor, Dr. Lüttmann. “Doesn’t it show how volunteers, administration and associations work together to be able to implement good ideas in an uncomplicated way?”.
The digital tour is also already integrated in the new brochure on Rheine City Park, which was published by Rheine.Tourismus.Veranstaltungen.e.V., and can be called up using a QR code.